4 CityDance Conservatory Students Talk Current Roles and Inspiration

We caught up with four CityDance students about their current roles and their experience so far. 

The grand ballet schools of old often have prime locations in their cities, reflecting the prominent place that dance held in society. The School of American Ballet, for instance, is two blocks from Central Park in Manhattan. The Royal Ballet School is in London’s Covent Garden.

But tucked away off Rockville Pike, miles from D.C.’s center, is a pre/professional program called The CityDance Conservatory that’s producing dancers of equally high caliber, with dreams of equally big, professional careers. We caught up with four current students about their stories, cultural heritage, dancing and dreams. 

Berkleigh Hernandez

This year, Hernandez began work on Kitri’s variation in Act I of “Don Quixote.” She started in the competition dance world, which tends to emphasize showy moves; her role as Kitri makes the most of this strength.

District Fray: When did you start dancing?
Hernandez: My first classes were actually on an Air Force base. I’ve always been a mover. My mom said I was always moving around, bopping. She says, “I just put you in dance, and you just developed from there.”

How has your heritage been involved in your dancing?
I feel like because I come from Latin heritage, it was very good for me. It’s exciting because my dad, he didn’t really know too much about it because he just didn’t really grow up with that kind of stuff. But I can talk to his parents, and they tell me more things about our heritage.

What is your favorite part of your new role in “Don Quixote”?
It’s very much leaps and turns, and I really love jumping and turning. Because all the fun stuff, all the big jumps I’m really good at. Because in competition dance, that’s what we were taught. So the more turns, the more jumps, the better for me.

Corbin Holloway

Holloway’s dad played football professionally, and his brothers all played in high school — but what drew Holloway’s attention was the dancing on the sidelines. One of Holloway’s current variations is from “Paquita,” and it’s one of the pieces that got him into the prestigious International Ballet Competition (IBC), held in Jackson, Mississippi once every four years.

District Fray: When did you start dancing?
Holloway: I would see the girls who would cheerlead on the side, and I would be like, “Oh my God, that’s so cool.” I wanted to dance and move, so during halftime, I would go out on the field of my brother’s game. I would just do random stuff in the middle of the field, and everyone would be watching. 

How did you find out you’d been admitted to IBC?
I think I was eating something. And my mom was on the couch watching TV with her phone, and she got an email about the acceptance. She was like, “Guess what? You got into Jackson!” 

What’s it like performing longer dances?
You have to make sure you have enough stamina to complete the variation and not look completely tired by the end of it. I think that’s probably the hardest part: remaining able to breathe and able to continue through the very last part.

Nagi Suzuki

Although Suzuki’s parents aren’t dancers, they’ve come alongside her as she’s progressed from toddler tutus to pointe shoes to competitions. Suzuki’s dad works a job that’s required the family to relocate several times; this year they’ll return to Japan. Suzuki previously starred in “Empress,” a role that challenged her to merge the humble, respectful posture of her Japanese heritage with the self-confidence she’s built at CityDance.

District Fray: How long have you been dancing?
Suzuki: I started ballet when I was four in New York. Then I went back to Japan when I was six years old, and then I continued ballet. Then I came here to Maryland when I was 13.

How has your family adjusted to the dancing world?
My mom now knows so much about ballet and dancing. Now she just knows all the terms and the variations.

How have you felt in the starring role of “Empress”?
It was kind of signaling the power and the strength that I have within, internally. I feel like that’s a very good symbol for my last solo here, because I was able to experience going from more of a weak internal state to progressing to a stronger, more powerful confidence.

Tseilla Essama-Ayi

Essama-Ayi started dance classes at three years old, inspired by her sister at first. For CityDance’s gala this year, she  performed a solo at the Kennedy Center — and her mom, of course, attended. This past spring, Essama-Ayi performed in “The Nobel Mind Chronicles Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,” a project by her Afro-Pop teacher, Adjetey Klufio.

District Fray: How did you get into dance?
Essama-Ayi: I just wanted to be like my sister at first. She was in ballet class, so I started in ballet and then I got more serious and then I joined competition [dancing]. Then I transferred here to the conservatory because I was looking for a more serious and ballet-based training.

How has your family reacted to your dancing?
[I remember at the Kennedy Center, my mom] had her nice dress on. She looked so pretty. She was proud of me, and she brought me this really pretty yellow rose bouquet. She gave me a big hug.

How was the experience of dancing in “The Nobel Mind Chronicles Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah”?
It was such a good show. We got to dance and eat food and it was just so amazing and everything. I was able to wear one of my cultural dresses from Cameroon. It’s orange, and it has these black and white details kind of like shapes, triangles, lines and dots.

Catch CityDance’s performers this holiday season in “Nutcracker! Magic of Christmas Ballet” at the Strathmore Concert Hall on December 2, 2023.

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Mary Scott Manning